A Hero Still
by Rei Ronin
Summary: The Oracle said to 'Beware the Dark Light'. Now, with his body infused with Dark Eco, Jak must struggled to retain his old self, his 'light within'. An alternate Jak II, tied more closely with the original game.
1. Prison

Work of fanfiction

Two goddamn years. Two years since he had gone through the rift with the others. Two years since the fight when he was captured. Two years that he had been pumped full of Dark Eco. Now they were finally going to kill him. Well, at least Keira was safe. He had no clue what had happened to old Samos. What had happened?

---

"Well, today's the big day, Jak, my boy," said Samos, as he floated over to Jak, who was trying to nap against the side of the machine they had recovered from atop the citadel. Daxter was keeping him up. And to be honest, he needed the nap. He and Keira had forfeited their night's sleep for a nice moonlit walk down the beach. Without Daxter, thankfully. Walking arm in arm, talking about how they felt towards each other. Contrary to popular opinion, Jak was not a mute. He was just quiet. Daxter had probably been the reason that the rumor about him being a mute was started.

He and Keira, were…uncertain. They liked each other, to be sure, but didn't quite know how to go about it. It would be an experience. But that wasn't the point now. At the moment it was time to test the huge ring and the little thing that you sat in. They all climbed in, Samos telling Daxter off, warning him against touching anything.

"Well, we know this thing interacts with the ring somehow," said Keira. "I just wish we knew how."

Samos looked over at Jak. "I know you can make it work. Go ahead." Keira squeezed Jak's hand.

_Well, that big red button looks inviting,_ thought Jak, reaching out and pressing it.

Yup, that was the right one. The Precursor ring was hit by four beams of light and started to spin, breaking free of the scaffolding they had placed it in. The space inside the ring began to fill, with what looked like a purple-black mist, almost like Dark Eco. Jak gave Keira's hand a comforting squeeze. Then he froze, as a number of what looked like metallic birds flew out of the mist, followed by a monstrous head. As it spoke, Keira flew into Jak's arms.

"FINALLY, THE LAST RIFT GATE HAS BEEN OPENED!"

"Do something, Jak!" yelled the orange-furred loudmouth.

Jak did. He grabbed onto the bars that were almost like a large zoomer's steering mechanism. The thing they were sitting in shot forward, entering into the mist. Suddenly they were in a universe of the mist, with blue lightning crackling through it, the thing they were sitting on swerving from side to side. Keira and Daxter were both clutching on to him tightly now. Keira he didn't mind too much, but Daxter was strangling him. And yelling something about wanting to get off.

Well, Daxter got his wish. One of the lightning bolts blew up their vehicle, sending Jak and co. flying one way while Samos flew the other, yelling "Find yourself, Jak!"

Boom.

They crashed through the edge of the mist and Jak made a landing on some metal surface. Strangely, it wasn't of Precursor make. He pried Daxter from around his neck and rubbed Keira's back. She unwrapped her arms from around him and looked around. The whole place was made of metal, and lit by some light that was not fire. Very strange.

"What have we here? Arrivals? And such a pretty little girl. Take them."

The trio spun around to see three people approaching. Two of them were wearing matching clothing, also made of metal. Not even their faces were visible. They were clad in red and silver, and were quite large. The third was skinnier, and wore a yellow, black and white skintight suit. He had some metal mask on the top of his head, and was holding a metal object in his hand. The two larger men were holding very large metal tubes that looked quite a lot like the Yellow Sage's…gun. "Keira, run."

"Jak?"

"Run, Keira!" Jak settled into a martial arts pose. The skinny one motioned one of the two red and silver men forward. Jak grabbed the man's gun and broke it open. Red and Yellow Eco flowed out of it. Jak drew it all into his body. It was a new trick, channeling two Ecos, but it certainly worked. Jak threw a hard punch to the man's chest. The metal armor caved in and blood sprayed everywhere. He had killed plenty of Lurkers with his hands, but that was the first elf.

"He's a channeler!" yelled the skinny one, "The Baron wants him alive!"

The second red man stepped forward, leveling his strange gun at Jak. Jak simply put his arm up and shot a blast of Yellow Eco at the man. It burned most of his torso away. The Eco charge ran out, and the skinny man grabbed the second red man's gun, firing it at him. 

The lightning blast hit Jak, staggering him. The second drove him to his knees. Then the barrel came around and knocked him out cold.

---

And everything after that had been prison. Two years. It did let him learn about the city he was in, and toughened him up a lot. And there had been the brief fling with the goatee. It hardly mattered now, though. That Errol guy was coming back later, and when he did, Jak was dead. He lay back and closed his eyes again, lacking the strength to keep them open. The bad thing about his death sentence was that he would never get what he wanted. Revenge.

"Ding! Top floor! Lampshades, couches, zoomers, and torture devices."

_What the hell?_ thought Jak, trying to open his eyes. A small weight landed on his chest.

"Hey, buddy, you seen any heroes around here?" A pause. "Jak, it's me! Your old pal Daxter!" 

_Daxter? _Jak struggled to open his eyes.

Little feet started to walk up and down his body. "Hey, I've been crawling around in this place for six months, risking my tail…LITERALLY, to find you. I deserve at least a hello! Come on Jak, say something, just this once!"

Well if he really wanted it…Jak had found the strength. "I'M GOING TO KILL PRAXIS!" yelled Jak, sitting up as much as he could in his bonds, his eyes snapping open.

Daxter clapped both of his hands over Jak's mouth. "Sure you are. But first we gotta get you out of here. Now let me figure out how to undo these security bindings."

"You have a way out of here?"

Daxter nodded. "I think I figured it out! These buttons!"

Jak wasn't listening. He was tapping into a little something he had been hiding from Praxis. It was time to let the Dark Eco work. There! He ripped his white arms free from the bindings, and ripped open the leg bindings with his claws. His killer senses felt all the life around him, especially the rodent.

"Or you could do it," spoke the rodent.

Jak rolled off the injection bed and stalked towards the rodent.

"Jak, you're really starting to freak me out. Jak! It's me! Your pal, Daxter!"

"Daxter?" Jak reversed the transformation. _I nearly lost control there._

"What the hell was that? Sheesh! Remind me never to piss you off!" Daxter calmed down. "Hey, I brought you some new threads. Put them on and let's get out of here."

Daxter kept a lookout while Jak stripped and put on the new clothes. Daxter had somehow salvaged his chest ring and backpack, along with Jak's zoomer goggles and old armor pieces. The pants, boots, tunic and gloves were new though. Jak kept the red scarf slash headpiece from his prison clothes. He had started wearing it when his hair had started to fall down, instead of staying in his old gravity-defying do. Jak was pretty sure it was a side effect of the Dark Eco experiments. "Nice, Dax." He walked over to where what looked like a teleporter gate hung. "Let's get out of here."

---

"Are there any guards in this sector?" queried Jak, as he jumped up and caught a ledge, hauling himself up.

"Yeah," said Daxter from his normal spot on Jak's shoulder, "They're in the next section. After the next two turns. Right here," he instructed as they came to a corridor branching off from the one they were in. Jak turned left. "Are you stupid? Your other right!"

"Quiet, Dax." He nodded his head at the door he was facing. "This is an armory." He opened the door and walked in.

"Oh baby!" squealed Daxter, "Look at all that firepower! And so much armor!"

"The armor slows them down, Dax," said Jak dismissing both the crimson/silver and the yellow/silver suits with a wave of his hand. "The lightning guns are useless for anything other than crowd control, and the normal rifles are too bulky with too few shots."

"So what are we here for?" asked Daxter in an annoyed tone.

"Pistols," said Jak, taking two holsters and strapping them on his thighs. "And grenades." He placed a few of the throwable explosives in his pack, along with a pistol recharger.

"What happened to channeling?"asked Daxter, "Did whatever they were doing make it impossible?" He sounded worried.

"No," said Jak, "But it's a rare gift now, and I think I'm going to need to keep my head down."

"So you're stealing two Krimzon Guardsman Officer pistols? How is that low profile!?"

"Lower than channeling," said Jak firmly. Daxter jumped back onto Jak's armored shoulder as Jak opened the door and walked down the hall, drawing his pistols. "How many Guardsmen?"

"Six, I think."

"Weapons?"

"Zappy rifles. Hey, Jak, you aren't going to rush in and beat them up, right? Cause that's suicide!"

Jak looked over at his orange-furred friend. "Daxter, what the FUCK do you think I got the pistols for, huh? I'm going to blow their fucking heads off. They're in the way."

"Jak," said Daxter timidly, "You're scaring me."

"Then I suggest you get off my shoulder, Dax," said Jak vehemently, "I've got a nice list of people to kill. I'm not stopping till Praxis and that Errol are in the ground."

Daxter couldn't believe it. What had happened to the quiet elf teen who went on a foolhardy quest to see if he could cure his friend? Jak turned a corner and jumped across a gap, startling two Guardsmen. The armored men didn't even have time to cry out in surprise before blaster fire rang out, murderously accurate, cutting through their necks. The wounds were fatal, but bloodless, the blaster fire cauterizing the wounds.

The corpses fell to the ground, and Jak kicked one of them as he went past. Daxter shook his head. It looked like the old Jak had died in prison, leaving only this killer behind.

Boots clattered on metal decking as the other Guardsmen came to check on the commotion. Jak calmly leveled his pistols and gunned them down as they came around a corner. Daxter stared at the four blaster burned corpses. "That's six. Should be safe from here, right?"

"R...right," squeaked out Daxter.

"What is it?" asked Jak as he safed one of his pistols and reholstered it.

"I just never saw anyone kill like that."

"Yes you did."

"What?"

"Think about it, Dax. How many Lurkers did I kill on that quest?" asked Jak quietly.

"I don't know," said Daxter, "I lost count." He shook his furry head. "But Lurkers aren't elves!"

"They're sentient, Dax," said Jak, with a sigh. "No, not as smart as elves, but damn good fighters, and with a religion and honor system of their own. I think I killed brethren from at least seventeen tribes. Besides, there were the two Guardsmen on the first day."

"Yeah, but you were protecting Keira. It just....just seemed...seemed..."

"Right...normal? Either of those work, Dax?" Jak shook his head and jumped across a gap. "Dax, drop it. It's probably just because I'm using guns." He safed and holstered the second pistol. "Hey, what happened after I got knocked out?"

"Keira nearly got us killed when we heard the zappy rifle. We just barely managed to give the Guard the slip. Been planning this prison break ever since. She was fine when I last saw her."

Jak sighed in relief. "Thank the Precursors. At least there's one thing to be proud about.

"Eh? Jak?"

Jak gave Daxter a half-smile as they walked to the end of the corridors, a window to the street in front of them. "Don't worry, Dax. Your old hero buddy is still alive. Just adapting, I guess."

"How..?"

"Dax, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. If you're quiet, you observe a lot more. Like that blonde girl that came to Sandover?"

"You mean the one who was head-over-heels in love with you?"

"Uh, no. Dax, she was in love with you. I called her on it, and even though I couldn't say much for her taste, I decided to play matchmaker and she agreed. All the times I was with her were planning sessions."

"Oh."

"Yeah. You know, if you had stopped talking for maybe a minute, I could've left you two alone, and you probably wouldn't be a virgin ottsel."

"Shut it!"

"Don't worry. Not a word to anyone." Jak opened the window. "Now, let's go."

"Hey," said Daxter, tugging on Jak's ear, "What's the plan?"

"Well," said Jak, "First we find Keira. Then we find Samos. Then we figure out how to get home!" With that, Jak jumped out into freedom.

A tweak here, a tweak there, and the story starts to diverge from Jak II. Soon it'll be flying its own course. Well, kinda. Anyway, on with the show. Ja na!


	2. Interruptions

Work of Fanfiction

---

"Okay Dax." Said Jak as they stood outside the fortress. "You're the expert on the city here. Where's Keira?"

"Uh, last time I checked, she was working in the stadium as a zoomer mechanic and living in the canals area. She's doing pretty well, so far as I know." He looked at Jak. "Why? Can't be without her for a second more?"

"I'd rather not," replied Jak, looking around at the slums. "So, which way?"

"We'll need to get some security passes to get into the Canal Zone."

"And the best way to get those?"

"Eh, for you, I'd say the black market."

"Right. What passes for money in this Precursor-forsaken place?"

"Coins, bills, and electronic money. Basic unit is the credit or cred."

"Right." Jak watched the street traffic, an old man with a strange beard catching his eye. A small child was running in front of the man, heading right towards Jak. A strange cross between a crocodile and a dog was hot on the boy's heels.

"Child, move more slowly! You know I can't keep up with you." The little boy ran up to Jak and started pulling on one of Jak's holsters. "I'm terribly sorry…oh, are you part of the resistance?"

"What are you talking about? I just busted out of jail."

"Into a larger one, young man. Could I perhaps help you?"

"Yes. I need credits to buy a pass to the Canal Zone."

"I fear I have no money on me, but perhaps if you worked for a somewhat shady man you could make that money quickly."

"Who is he?"

"His name is Krew. He lives in the Harbor Zone, past the Industrial Zone."

"And how do you suggest I get the money to enter those zones?"

"If you are a skilled fighter you could enter into the service of the resistance as a courier. They might have you deliver a package or two to Krew."

"Good. Where do I…"

"All citizens in this sector are under arrest for suspicion of harboring dangerous fugitives. Surrender and the death penalty _might_ be waived." Guardsmen stalked down the street, cocked rifles at the ready.

Jak growled and loosened his pistols. "What do they want?"

"The boy!" said the old man in a panic, "He is very important! Help us!"

"Sounds good." Jak drew his pistols, hidden by the old man's body. "GET DOWN!" As the man dove to the ground, Jak leveled his pistols, firing. Yellow bolts caught the Guardsmen by surprise, blowing holes in their armor. The burly elves died under Jak's unexpected assault.

"Call for backupAGH!" Jak's blast blew a huge hole in that man's stomach. Some of the KG were finally bringing their weapons to bear. Jak dove out of the way as orange blasts blew craters in the wall he had been standing in front of. Stone chips pelted him as the debris kicked up from the KGer's shots spun through the air. One sharp piece nicked his cheek, drawing a line of blood. Jak jumped and kicked off the wall, an unexpected move. As the KG shot where he would've been if he had kept running, he mowed them down with murderously accurate pistol fire. As the final Guardsman trained his rifle on Jak, the teenaged elf blew out the armored elf's eye.

A large Zoomer engine made him look up. A huge transport had come overhead and was dropping troops. But it was the gun on the bottom of the transport that worried Jak. He trained both pistols on the laser aiming mechanism and blazed away. The yellow onslaught cracked the sight's lens, rendering it, and the gun, useless.

The troops leveled their guns at Jak and fired. He threw himself to the ground as the blasts flew over him, firing. He tucked and rolled as he landed, keeping his momentum and bowling into the line. He once again called on the Dark Eco in his body, throwing his pistols to the ground as he transformed.

It was over before it even started. Dark Jak's claws ripped through the KG's armor like it was water, rending the flesh beneath with contemptuous ease. That alone would have won the fight, what with Dark Jak healing all the damage that was thrown at him away. The Dark Eco lightning that burned straight through lines of the Guardsmen was simply icing on the cake. He even used the demonic horns growing out of his head, goring an elf and letting his blood run down over him before burning it, and the corpse, away in a blaze of Dark Eco fire.

As the KG transport retreated and the last Guardsman fell from Dark Jak's claws, the Dark Eco in Jak ran out, and he turned back into the Jak that had escaped from prison. He collected the pistols and holstered them, changing out their clips for fresh ones. "Now, as I was saying before we were interrupted, where do I find this resistance?"

"If you will escort us there, I shall take you myself."

"Lead on, old man."


End file.
